One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post was that on Sunday night we went over to Gaynor's sisters place. She wanted to show me her bird. The bird was a type of parrot and cost $7000!! She only paid $4500 for it because she knew the owner. That's a lot of money for a bird. She justified it by saying that Lily (the parrots name) would live for 60-80 years. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
When I got back from the beach on Monday I looked like a lobster. My arms, chest, face and legs were burnt. Once again I didn't put enough suncream on after I got out of the sea. You think I would learn from my past mistakes. For the rest of the day I just relaxed and watched Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Keith's laptop. One thing I do miss is English TV and humour. The Australian sense of humour just isn't funny.
Really grateful that Keith and Gaynor let me stay with them. Australia is a lovely place and I'm going to miss it.
Woke up on Tuesday morning in pain because of the sunburn. Was my own fault so I just have to deal with it. At least I will look nice and tanned when it's healed. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that bollocks.
Flight to Auckland was with Air New Zealand. Got there 2 hours early and I still nearly missed my flight. Went through security checks and was sitting outside gate 20 for a good hour. I didn't realise you had to go around and do more security and passport checks. Airports do a good job at making you feel like a terrorist. They make you feel like you've done something wrong. They looked at me and asked me to step into this tube looking thing and have a full body scan. I know its just a precaution but it is just a bit obsessive. A grumpy security guy also took my lynx off me. Should have put it in my suitcase. My flight was at 11:45am and boarding was at 11am. Me being the idiot I am was still waiting in the line at 11:30 to show my passport to get into the departure lounge. Ran down to gate 20 thinking I had 10 minutes before the plane took off. When I got there, they weren't even boarding. Plane was delayed for half an hour. Had a sigh of relief and sat down with my heart beating faster. Think I would have laughed at how stupid I was if I missed the plane. In my defense the airport isn't well sign posted, but I should have known better.
The seats inside the plane were all black and looked quite smart and modern. None of the funky patterns you normally see on plane seats. The safety announcement video had Bear Grylls in it (for those that are wondering, no they didn't show him drinking his own piss). It was actually really well done for a safety video. Something different and creative. The in-flight entertainment was also very good. They were showing The Hobbit. I'm sure that only came out in the cinema like last month? (It was probably released last year and I just can't remember)
The people I sat next to were both very friendly and talkative. If you ever come to Australia you will notice that the majority of people are really friendly. When I was walking back from the beach on Monday, a random man walking in the opposite direction just looked at me and said G'day and walked off.
The elderly bloke to the right of me joked about spraying some perfume on his hand in duty free and said sorry if he smelt like a woman. He laughed and stiffed his hand about 10 times.
The food was alright. Had chicken and rice and had to use plastic cutlery.
Arrived in Auckland at night. Got on a $16 bus to the hostel I was staying at in the city. Sitting on the bus I was thinking I have no idea where i'm going. Luckily the driver stopped right outside the hostel. Checked in and was staying on the 9th floor. The first roommate I met was from Korea. The 2nd was from New Zealand. She was a 24 year old stripper. The 3rd and final roommate was from Saudi Arabia. All of them were nice and easy to get on with.
The room had no shower or toilet. There was one male shower down the hall for everyone on the 9th floor to use. It was one of those annoying showers where you had to press the button every 10 seconds.
I nearly broke my finger opening the locker underneath my bed because I wasn't sure how it opened. By the time I put all my stuff away it was about 8pm. Was staving so I went to Burger King across the road. Here's another fun fact for you, Burger King is called Hungry Jacks in Australia.
Woke up on Wednesday morning and I had no idea what to do for the rest of the day. Was contemplating getting a haircut but decided against it because I hate getting haircuts. Bought my first ever Dunkin' Donut for Breakfast and then just walked. I soon found out that Auckland has a lot of McDonald's. Saw about 5 of them in 5 minutes of walking.
Ended up going to the Sky Tower. If you ever go traveling buy a STA Student Travel Card. You'll save a lot of money on attractions. I paid $18 to up to the Sky Deck, which is 220 metres high.
DID YOU KNOW?
Sky Tower is as tall as 37 buses laid end-to-end.
Annnyyyyyway, when I got up there I did the standard tourist thing and took photos. I think the most interesting thing I saw up there was a 3 year old with a mullet! It will cost you $220 if you want to Sky Jump from 194 metres. After taking a lot of photos of my shoes, I left and went to the Sky City Casino. Ended up wasting $10 in 10 minutes, while the guy sat next to me spent $20 and won $800. Lucky bastard.
For the rest of the day I just sat on a deck chair in the 'Festival Garden' and read my book. Sitting by myself, with empty chairs next to me, made me start to miss my family and friends back home. I think one day in Auckland is enough. There just isn't that much to do here if you're traveling alone. I'm probably wrong and there is still a lot to see and do but I just haven't realised it yet.
Went down to the harbour at night and listened to music. They have these really comfortable seats there. On the way back to the hostel I went into the supermarket. I saw someone that looked exactly like Patrick Stewart. Don't think it was him but you never know.
Thursday morning I changed my mind and got a haircut. Sat there in silence for 20 minutes, paid $20 and left. Went to the Auckland Art Gallery in the afternoon. Was free entry and you were allowed to take photos. They had some good pieces of art there and some shit pieces. There was a radiator piece of 'art', which I just found weird. I didn't even bother taking a photo of it. Spent a good 2 hours there because the place is never ending. Was something to do an I did enjoy it.
At night I met up with Miff and his mate. Miff was the guy I met in Melbourne, who lives in New Zealand and is from Portsmouth. We went to the Casino. Ended up spending $50 on food, cider and roulette. Miff took out $500 to gamble with. He ended up putting $200 on black and losing it all, the crazy bastard. At the end of the night we put $8 on Roulette numbers and ended up winning $120. Was a great night.
When I got back to the hostel, a member of staff knocked on the door. He was looking for Dean Lord. I said yeah that's me and he said I needed to check out. I explained to him I had booked another night and that it was alright to stay in the same room. He said I needed to go to the reception. In the lift he said I had an interesting Surname. He asked if anyone had called me 'Me Lord' before. I laughed, he laughed, it was all very hilarious ಠ_ಠ. Got to the reception and I was asked to move rooms. Got my stuff and went to room 1104. It was a smaller room with no windows. Took me 5 minutes to find the toilet. Had to go back to the reception and ask for housekeeping because my bed had no pillow case or blanket. The room I was in was just below the bar. At 3am all I could hear was Trance music. It was 30 minutes of:
OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH. UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT. BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE.
One last thing before I end this incredible exciting post.
I'm never sure if tap water is safe to drink aboard, so I normally carry around a bottle of water.
TOP TIP #1: Instead of spending $3 each time on a new bottle of water, save yourself the money and look for a water fountain.
Next update will be about my time in Whangarei. I'll be there for 4 days so I should have something to talk about.
When I got back from the beach on Monday I looked like a lobster. My arms, chest, face and legs were burnt. Once again I didn't put enough suncream on after I got out of the sea. You think I would learn from my past mistakes. For the rest of the day I just relaxed and watched Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on Keith's laptop. One thing I do miss is English TV and humour. The Australian sense of humour just isn't funny.
Really grateful that Keith and Gaynor let me stay with them. Australia is a lovely place and I'm going to miss it.
Woke up on Tuesday morning in pain because of the sunburn. Was my own fault so I just have to deal with it. At least I will look nice and tanned when it's healed. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that bollocks.
Flight to Auckland was with Air New Zealand. Got there 2 hours early and I still nearly missed my flight. Went through security checks and was sitting outside gate 20 for a good hour. I didn't realise you had to go around and do more security and passport checks. Airports do a good job at making you feel like a terrorist. They make you feel like you've done something wrong. They looked at me and asked me to step into this tube looking thing and have a full body scan. I know its just a precaution but it is just a bit obsessive. A grumpy security guy also took my lynx off me. Should have put it in my suitcase. My flight was at 11:45am and boarding was at 11am. Me being the idiot I am was still waiting in the line at 11:30 to show my passport to get into the departure lounge. Ran down to gate 20 thinking I had 10 minutes before the plane took off. When I got there, they weren't even boarding. Plane was delayed for half an hour. Had a sigh of relief and sat down with my heart beating faster. Think I would have laughed at how stupid I was if I missed the plane. In my defense the airport isn't well sign posted, but I should have known better.
The seats inside the plane were all black and looked quite smart and modern. None of the funky patterns you normally see on plane seats. The safety announcement video had Bear Grylls in it (for those that are wondering, no they didn't show him drinking his own piss). It was actually really well done for a safety video. Something different and creative. The in-flight entertainment was also very good. They were showing The Hobbit. I'm sure that only came out in the cinema like last month? (It was probably released last year and I just can't remember)
The people I sat next to were both very friendly and talkative. If you ever come to Australia you will notice that the majority of people are really friendly. When I was walking back from the beach on Monday, a random man walking in the opposite direction just looked at me and said G'day and walked off.
The elderly bloke to the right of me joked about spraying some perfume on his hand in duty free and said sorry if he smelt like a woman. He laughed and stiffed his hand about 10 times.
The food was alright. Had chicken and rice and had to use plastic cutlery.
Arrived in Auckland at night. Got on a $16 bus to the hostel I was staying at in the city. Sitting on the bus I was thinking I have no idea where i'm going. Luckily the driver stopped right outside the hostel. Checked in and was staying on the 9th floor. The first roommate I met was from Korea. The 2nd was from New Zealand. She was a 24 year old stripper. The 3rd and final roommate was from Saudi Arabia. All of them were nice and easy to get on with.
The room had no shower or toilet. There was one male shower down the hall for everyone on the 9th floor to use. It was one of those annoying showers where you had to press the button every 10 seconds.
I nearly broke my finger opening the locker underneath my bed because I wasn't sure how it opened. By the time I put all my stuff away it was about 8pm. Was staving so I went to Burger King across the road. Here's another fun fact for you, Burger King is called Hungry Jacks in Australia.
Woke up on Wednesday morning and I had no idea what to do for the rest of the day. Was contemplating getting a haircut but decided against it because I hate getting haircuts. Bought my first ever Dunkin' Donut for Breakfast and then just walked. I soon found out that Auckland has a lot of McDonald's. Saw about 5 of them in 5 minutes of walking.
Ended up going to the Sky Tower. If you ever go traveling buy a STA Student Travel Card. You'll save a lot of money on attractions. I paid $18 to up to the Sky Deck, which is 220 metres high.
DID YOU KNOW?
Sky Tower is as tall as 37 buses laid end-to-end.
Annnyyyyyway, when I got up there I did the standard tourist thing and took photos. I think the most interesting thing I saw up there was a 3 year old with a mullet! It will cost you $220 if you want to Sky Jump from 194 metres. After taking a lot of photos of my shoes, I left and went to the Sky City Casino. Ended up wasting $10 in 10 minutes, while the guy sat next to me spent $20 and won $800. Lucky bastard.
For the rest of the day I just sat on a deck chair in the 'Festival Garden' and read my book. Sitting by myself, with empty chairs next to me, made me start to miss my family and friends back home. I think one day in Auckland is enough. There just isn't that much to do here if you're traveling alone. I'm probably wrong and there is still a lot to see and do but I just haven't realised it yet.
Went down to the harbour at night and listened to music. They have these really comfortable seats there. On the way back to the hostel I went into the supermarket. I saw someone that looked exactly like Patrick Stewart. Don't think it was him but you never know.
Thursday morning I changed my mind and got a haircut. Sat there in silence for 20 minutes, paid $20 and left. Went to the Auckland Art Gallery in the afternoon. Was free entry and you were allowed to take photos. They had some good pieces of art there and some shit pieces. There was a radiator piece of 'art', which I just found weird. I didn't even bother taking a photo of it. Spent a good 2 hours there because the place is never ending. Was something to do an I did enjoy it.
At night I met up with Miff and his mate. Miff was the guy I met in Melbourne, who lives in New Zealand and is from Portsmouth. We went to the Casino. Ended up spending $50 on food, cider and roulette. Miff took out $500 to gamble with. He ended up putting $200 on black and losing it all, the crazy bastard. At the end of the night we put $8 on Roulette numbers and ended up winning $120. Was a great night.
When I got back to the hostel, a member of staff knocked on the door. He was looking for Dean Lord. I said yeah that's me and he said I needed to check out. I explained to him I had booked another night and that it was alright to stay in the same room. He said I needed to go to the reception. In the lift he said I had an interesting Surname. He asked if anyone had called me 'Me Lord' before. I laughed, he laughed, it was all very hilarious ಠ_ಠ. Got to the reception and I was asked to move rooms. Got my stuff and went to room 1104. It was a smaller room with no windows. Took me 5 minutes to find the toilet. Had to go back to the reception and ask for housekeeping because my bed had no pillow case or blanket. The room I was in was just below the bar. At 3am all I could hear was Trance music. It was 30 minutes of:
OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH. UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT, UMPT. BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE, BASE.
One last thing before I end this incredible exciting post.
I'm never sure if tap water is safe to drink aboard, so I normally carry around a bottle of water.
TOP TIP #1: Instead of spending $3 each time on a new bottle of water, save yourself the money and look for a water fountain.
Next update will be about my time in Whangarei. I'll be there for 4 days so I should have something to talk about.
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